Is Riverside SoCals well kept secret? Seriously. (Sacramento, San Bernardino: condo, townhouse)

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by GatsbyGatz

^OC/SD always use Riverside as a whipping boy! Yeah Riverside doesn't compare to SoCal's coastal cities, but Riverside is still MUCH nicer than the majority of places to live in the US. Riverside is criticized mostly because it's neighboring counties are some of the most affluent places in the country.

Indeed.

[Dub D]

Riverside is much nicer than....where?

I can't stand such vague statements.

Riverside is the worst designed city in the IE IMO. It's a complete pain in the ass traveling within Riverside. The UCR area is always backed up. The 91 freeway is down to 2 lanes and has been under construction for well over 2 years now. The Central ave exit always has lanes blocked for no good reason. The nicer parts of Riverside are so isolated from everything, it takes a solid 15 to get anywhere from that area.

I use to cover Riverside for work once in a while and wanted to kill myself driving around Riverside. My area was Corona, which miles wise is alot bigger. Driving from S. Corona to Green River is a solid 20 mile drive yet it'd be faster than driving 5 miles within Riverside.

I just went to the shopping area off Central two weeks ago. The entire parking lot has 1 hour parking. WTF kind of shopping mall has timed parking?

[Gurbie]

Originally Posted by Dub D

I just went to the shopping area off Central two weeks ago. The entire parking lot has 1 hour parking. WTF kind of shopping mall has timed parking?

There's a multi-screen theater there. The one hr limit is there so movie goers don't hog all the parking spots and hurt business at the other stores.

The restricted area is NOT the "entire parking lot, either.

[GatsbyGatz]

Originally Posted by Dub D

Riverside is much nicer than....where?

I can't stand such vague statements.

Riverside is the worst designed city in the IE IMO. It's a complete pain in the ass traveling within Riverside. The UCR area is always backed up. The 91 freeway is down to 2 lanes and has been under construction for well over 2 years now. The Central ave exit always has lanes blocked for no good reason. The nicer parts of Riverside are so isolated from everything, it takes a solid 15 to get anywhere from that area.

I use to cover Riverside for work once in a while and wanted to kill myself driving around Riverside. My area was Corona, which miles wise is alot bigger. Driving from S. Corona to Green River is a solid 20 mile drive yet it'd be faster than driving 5 miles within Riverside.

I just went to the shopping area off Central two weeks ago. The entire parking lot has 1 hour parking. WTF kind of shopping mall has timed parking?

Funny that you're complaining about Riverside's infrastructure. Ever been in LA traffic? Both Riverside and LA were designed as streetcar cities; worked for streetcars, notorious for causing grid traffic for automobiles. LA and Riverside were retrofitted for cars; that's why it's so traffic inducing. Riverside is not Rancho Cucamonga sprawlsburg designed for cars in mind. Cars were forced onto Riverside's grid made up of tiny city blocks, thus adding more traffic lights and congestion.

[Dub D]

Why would anyone compare Riverside with LA? How is that a just comparison in any possible way?

I don't care about Riverside's history. Plenty of other Southern California cities just as old and populated without the nonstop construction leading to more traffic congestion. It's straight up pathetic. I'd be mad as hell if I lived in Riverside, seeing my city taxes going towards nothing.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Dub D

Why would anyone compare Riverside with LA? How is that a just comparison in any possible way?

I don't care about Riverside's history. Plenty of other Southern California cities just as old and populated without the nonstop construction leading to more traffic congestion. It's straight up pathetic. I'd be mad as hell if I lived in Riverside, seeing my city taxes going towards nothing.

Here's where your city property taxes would go, only if you owned property in the city:
https://www.riversideca.gov/finance/finance-cfd.asp

Otherwise, what taxes would you be paying? Freeway construction would be a CalTrans deal, whom you do not pay the city for.

[Gurbie]

Originally Posted by Dub D

Why would anyone compare Riverside with LA? How is that a just comparison in any possible way?

I don't care about Riverside's history. Plenty of other Southern California cities just as old and populated without the nonstop construction leading to more traffic congestion. It's straight up pathetic. I'd be mad as hell if I lived in Riverside, seeing my city taxes going towards nothing.

?????

The City of Riverside has made HUGE improvements in infrastructure over the last ten years: cleaning up University Ave, restoring the Fox Theater, eliminating train crossings, cleaning up downtown, restoring museums, building a brand new convention center, with a high- rise hotel, brand new City Fire HQ, two new office buildings on the DT skyline, too.

"Funded by..." signs explaining the financing are up at every project. It obvious where your tax dollars are going. You're just not paying attention.

Yeah traffic sucks, but have you noticed EVERY freeway in and out of town is under construction? They are adding traffic lanes and a carpool lane. The 60/215 area is already vastly improved.

Every major artery ramp is being rebuilt too, four lanes in all directions.

So have some patience, and take the long view. The city leadership has done a great job.

[GatsbyGatz]

Originally Posted by Dub D

Why would anyone compare Riverside with LA? How is that a just comparison in any possible way?

I don't care about Riverside's history. Plenty of other Southern California cities just as old and populated without the nonstop construction leading to more traffic congestion. It's straight up pathetic. I'd be mad as hell if I lived in Riverside, seeing my city taxes going towards nothing.

Above posters addressed the points I was going to make. Take a trip around riverside, improvement has been made.

[nalmak]

I lived in Riverside from 2008-20011 off the 60 Freeway, Market St exit. I personally hated it. It's just boring..
The homes were stacked next to each other, I can watch people use the bathrooms, I never saw that before I came to Riverside. The smog was downright offensive, the heat in the summer is like the devil was lactose intolerant and farted uncontrollably ALL DAY.
The area/houses by Mt.Rubidoux are gorgeous though. And extending for a mile I think. Just beautiful. But the problem is its just BORING..

But I moved to San Bernardino, so there you go (Graduated from CSUSB 2012)

But I believe for some odd reason, that I can't explain, SB has way more potential to be the best city in the IE. I dunno why.

[Marv101]

Rancho Cucamonga gets my vote as the finest city in the IE, but Riverside is definitely on the upswing, and that new Hyatt Place hotel in downtown has certainly been a great addition to downtown Riverside IMHO.